Best Shots: BATMAN INC., FEAR ITSELF: YOUTH IN REVOLT, More

Greetings, Rama readers! Your friendly neighborhood David Pepose here, coming to you with the rockin' reviewers of the Best Shots Team! We've got a ton of reviews for your reading enjoyment this week, including big releases from Marvel, DC, IDW and BOOM! Studios. Want some more back-issue reviews? You got it, all over at the Best Shots Topic Page. And now, let's see what Bruce Wayne's been up to, as Colin Bell takes a look at the ever-growing ranks of Batman Inc.…

It was ironic that recent installments of Batman Incorporated made mention of the concept of Ouroboros (a snake that eats its own tail, forming a never-ending loop), because with the past couple of issues the book was similarly close to disappearing into itself. However, with this issue, things seem to be getting back on track and returning the title to the "short, punchy stories" that writer Grant Morrison promised when the title was first announced.

From cover to gloriously intricate final double-page, Batman Incorporated #6 is a perfect illustration of the concept of Bruce Wayne's war-on-crime going global, and is long overdue, possibly to the point where it should have been the opening issue. Using a meeting in Gotham's underworld as a framing device, we're given a rollicking, globetrotting tour of the current set-up of Batman's army in an issue so densely packed that it's hard to pick out the highlights. I'll give it my best shot though: highlights include Batman trolling on the internet, Cassandra Cain making a re-appearance in a new guise, and more overtly sinister clues to what global terror organization Leviathan's plans are.

To counter this, the reader is shown that as always Batman has a fair idea of the enemy he faces, and this information is shared off-panel with his closest allies in no less than three occasions in this book. Keeping the readers one step behind the characters in this manner is a smart narrative trick that teases us to the point where we're dying to know what's actually going on, and so demands that we keep up. Tellingly, characters that seemed one-note and disposable from last year's Batman: The Return make an appearance, if only to underscore a point: both Grant Morrison and Batman are preparing for something huge, and they will need everyone they can get.

Following on from his sterling work in Batman Incorporated #4 Chris Burnham continues to grow as a promising artist, his work reminiscent of Geoff Darrow and Frank Quitely as he forges ahead with his own clean style. It's not by any means perfect, in the panels where unmasked Burnham's Bruce Wayne strikes me as a little odd. I don't begrudge Batman being happy, but seeing him with a wide-eyed, youthful and smirking face slightly de-ages the character, which I feel doesn't jibe with the role of General that the story continues to push him towards.

That said, in other pages Burnham excels and it would be wrong of me to talk about this issue without mentioning the stunning last two pages, where the issue's events culminate in a global flashmob of crime (which if nothing else indicates that Morrison is still showing no indication of running out of ideas). In these final pages, Burnham's eight vertical panels show Bat-operatives combating the "flashcrime" in locations all over the world separately, but the panels fit together and flow into each other to make one giant tapestry of international punching. More than anything that's came before in the title, it sells the idea of the workings of Batman Inc. perfectly, distilled to its purest form. I would recommend the issue to you on that basis alone.

Dense without feeling overbearing or confusing, wild without feeling out of control, Batman Incorporated #6 is one of those new-fangled "jumping-on points" you hear about. In both terms of Batman Inc and comics in general, this issue is what it's all about.

Sean McKeever seems to be the go-to guy for writing young superheroes these days. After a sadly short-lived run with Young Allies, McKeever is back to bringing us some of those characters, as well as some other fascinating young heroes from the Marvel Universe, and showing us how the events of Fear Itself are affecting them in Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt.

Issue #1 begins with Prodigy, having finally settled into a normal life after the events of Civil War, getting a message from Steve Rogers asking him to head up a new Initiative of young heroes to help with the current situation plaguing the planet. Prodigy reluctantly accepts, realizing that the very things that make him reluctant are the things that would make him the perfect choice to lead. (Steve Rogers seems to have a great knack for hiring people and putting them where they need to be) Other young heroes join this Initiative, also reluctantly, and they are quickly in the thick of things, forced to put their personal rivalries aside for the greater good. As they attempt to save the fearful general populace from itself, Thor Girl gets cornered by law enforcement who are suspicious and afraid of the hammer she wields in light of the five hammers that have fallen all over the world, and she attempts to convince them that she was trying to help.

McKeever has done an excellent job of not only figuring out where all of these young heroes fit into the events of the larger Fear Itself storyline, but he’s managed to give so many of them their own stories based on their individual wants and needs. We’ll get to watch Prodigy deal with being a leader after having been imprisoned twice for his individualistic, leader-like qualities; Gravity and Firestar’s return to working with a team despite things going badly last time they tried; Cloud 9’s return to superhero life, period, after swearing to give it up and trying to live a normal life; and Thor Girl’s struggle with what it means to have chosen to mold herself after the Asgardians now that they have seemingly abandoned humanity. McKeever has written a fast-paced, human story that never loses sight of the characters even as they delve into the larger plot.

Mike Norton is one of those artists whose style is a perfect fit for stories with young characters, and so he was an excellent choice for this limited series. He does well by large images (his two-page spread of all the young heroes listening to Prodigy’s proposal is great), action panels, as well as smaller character moments where an eyebrow crinkle can reveal so much; and he draws it all with a buoyant, youthful energy. I could easily see his images as an animated series.

Sometimes, I think that every event is overrun with tie-in titles. However, I respect the fact that Marvel always checks in with the least-known of its superheroes, fitting them into the story and showing us how the world’s big events affect the most vulnerable. McKeever’s Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt is a promising read in its first issue as it plunges character-first into the events of Fear Itself.

Flashpoint #1

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope and Alex Sinclair

Lettering by Nick J. Napolitano

Published by DC Comics

Review by Scott Cederlund

Nothing will ever be the same again.

How many times have we heard that line?

Andy Kubert is a serious artist. You can tell just by looking at how serious all of his characters are, how they grind their teeth and frown all the time. That's how serious Andy Kubert is. In the opening pages of Flashpoint #1, writer Geoff Johns re-familiarizes us with the history of the Flash, from the freakish accident that bathed Barry Allen in a chemical bath that gave him his powers, to his marriage to Iris West, to the recent retcon of his mother's death and to the points where he found friends and family. All of the flashbacks of those family and friends are met with stern, important and dangerous faces. When the unseen narrator tells of us Barry's friends, Kubert shows the Justice League, charging into battle, yelling and grimacing. The narrator tells us that these are friends and how he had nothing to live for "until the day I met the Flash," filling us with words of hope, compassion and warmth but Andy Kubert shows us soldiers, rushing off into battle with nothing more than the thoughts of war and victory showing on their faces. Kubert draws a Superman that is ten times scarier than the Batman in the same picture. There's a stunning disconnect between the warmth of the memories, family and friends that Johns is telling us about and the anger and ugliness that Kubert is showing us.

Of course, showing emotion has never been one of Kubert's strengths. Brother Adam and father Joe's artwork carry bigger emotional impacts as their lines and cartooning tend to be more expressive. Kubert, particularly here as he's inked by Wildstorm alum Sandra Hope, tends to look more like Jim Lee or Neal Adams, going for a strong realism in his artwork. He is a fantastic superhero artist, carrying through in his art all of the importance and heaviness that any script requires. There's little subtleness in Kubert's work as all of his characters show exactly what they are thinking. It makes for clear and concise artwork that looks strong and heroic but lacks any emotional punch.

In Flashpoint #1, Johns plays up to Kubert's strengths. As Barry Allen wakes up in a world where he isn't the Flash, where Gotham's skyline is filled with bright neon signs for Wayne Casinos and Cyborg tries to rally heroes like Citizen Cold, Pied Piper and Captain Thunder to stop a war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons that's destroying Europe, Johns gives Kubert some fun scenes to draw featuring superheroes looking very super heroic and Barry Allen looking very confused. There's no mistaking exactly what any of these characters feel. When Batman pushes Yo-Yo, the Harlequin of this world, off a building's roof, there's' no mistaking his intentions. Kubert draws everything that Johns writes clearly and with little room for any kind of interpretation.

It's easy to get lulled into looking at only the surface level of Kubert's drawings because usually that's all there is to it. Except that every now and again Kubert manages to slip in a wonderfully surprising panel. In this issue, he gets it in on the second to last page as Barry Allen, a stranger in a strange land, goes to the Batcave looking for Bruce Wayne's help. There's no Batmobile, giant penny or Tyrannosaurus Rex in this Batcave. "The first time I met Barry Allen, I nearly killed him," the still narrator Batman tells us as he starts pounding Barry and throwing him around. Trying to reach out to the man who was a friend in another world, Barry pleads "Bruce, wait!" and that's where Kubert does it. He sneaks in a look of surprise and shock on Batman's face. Go through the book fast enough (like I did my first time) and you'll miss it as you think Batman may just be shocked by hearing someone call his name while he's wearing the cowl but there's something else that Kubert is drawing there.

When Barry tries to reach out to Batman by calling him "Bruce," Kubert slips in this shot of Batman that isn't just shock but there's a flash of sorrow on it; sorrow at hearing the name "Bruce." It is the first and only strong clue in the issue that the man who Barry thinks his is friend and teammate isn't the Bruce Wayne that he knows or even the Bruce Wayne of this world. Barry reaches out for a friend but completely disarms Batman with one simple statement, "Bruce, wait!" It's a great moment, maybe not drawn out as long as it could have been, that Johns and Kubert gives us that there may be something more happening here than just an alternate world or "House of M" type story, where you think you know all of the players but just in a slightly different context.

At the end of this big issue full of alternate versions of characters we know, characters that we know are dead (killed at the authorial hands of Johns no less), and cityscapes that don't look quite as dark and brooding as we expect them to be, Johns and Kubert sneak in the biggest reveal of just how different this world is as one of the most steadfast characters in comics is not who we want him to be. And that big reveal begins with one of the quietest and most emotional images that Andy Kubert has ever drawn.

Andy Kubert can pull off the big scenes of heroes flexing their muscles and beating up on the bad guys with the best of them. This issue is full of pictures of superheroes being superheroes. Geoff Johns story is nothing earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but plays well with the ideas and tropes of alternate universes. Kubert faithfully plays along with those tropes, illustrating every panel like we would expect, showing off the larger-than-life aspects of these characters no matter what world they're in. But just when you know where the story is going, Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert turn to world completely upside down in the final pages of Flashpoint #1, giving us a bit of hope that everything we know may really be different this time around.

FF #3

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Steve Epting, Rick Magyar, Butch Guice and Paul Mounts

Lettering by Clayton Cowles

Published by Marvel Comics

Review by Scott Cederlund

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FF is a book of mourning. Hickman is not letting his characters feel anything but numb as Reed, Sue and Ben are understandable emotionally drained but their pallor hangs over the ever growing cast that Hickman's assembling right now. There are no emotional highs or lows in FF #3, just a series of events as lost characters try to find and define their lives in a world that none of them wanted. It's not that any of the characters are good or bad in this issue. It's just that they're searching for a purpose, anything to justify where they are in the world right now, whether they've lost a dear brother and friend or whether they've always been defeated by the Fantastic Four and are trying to figure out how to score a victory.

Hickman is taking FF is some interesting directions as Reed, Sue and Ben grow their family and their mission. It's no longer about superheroes or exploring; it's about trying to make a better world. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby made them heroes. Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo made them Imaginauts. Hickman is trying to make them something bigger than that but I'm not sure what that is yet. He's been meticulously building this since his first issue, first showing Reed just what he was capable of with the Council of Reeds and then showing him everything he would have to sacrifice. Even as Reed has fought hard not to make the sacrifice of his family for the greater good of humanity, is there any way that the character can view the death of Johnny Storm as a sacrifice? As Reed has tried to strengthen his family, it's already cost them one of their own.

In this issue, Reed has to protect his family by welcoming his greatest enemies into the Baxter Building with the idea of defeating Reed Richards. It's fascinating watching Hickman maneuver these characters into such unlikely and uncomfortable positions where Reed Richards has to be consulting with Doctor Doom, A.I.M., the Wizard and the Mad Thinker. There's not much action or anything fantastic in this issue as it's all about people picking their sides in the battle. For our Reed, it's the devil he knows as he recruits his enemies who have spent lifetimes battling him. For the remaining Reeds from the Council, they're thinking larger and going after the Old Atlanteans, Forever City, the Universal Inhumans and the Negative Zone. They're thinking on the grand scale like they always do. Our Reed, the real Reed, is following his heart, which may actually be his greatest strength.

As Hickman keeps the tone of the story fairly somber, Steve Epting, the various inkers and colorist Paul Mounts keep the book visually restrained. Epting's artwork, which was so sturdy and powerful on Captain America is much more subdued here as the story isn't about any physical battles but follows more cerebral ones. Epting channels Jack Kirby and John Buscema in his artwork, creating a physical grace on the pages of talking heads. That's what this issue is full of — talking heads spouting off ideals and goals but Epting is so good at showing thoughts and schemes in his characters faces. Hickman and Epting are showing scheming, cheating and thinking characters and making it as much fun as any punching and kicking these characters have done in the past.

The trick to death in comics today is not making the reader believe that the death is permanent but making the surviving characters honestly believe it. You can really only sell the importance of the death through the reactions to it. It's still kind of hard to buy that the Fantastic Four could honestly believe that Johnny Storm is truly dead but Hickman and Epting have created a mournful atmosphere in FF #3 as they show Reed trying to get on with his life by looking to his enemies for counsel rather than his closest friend or wife. FF is a sad book, and that's what makes it an interesting book right now.

Birds of Prey #12

Written by Gail Simone

Art by Jesus Saiz and Nei Ruffino

Lettering by Carlos M. Mangual

Published by DC Comics

Review by David Pepose

It starts with a job offer, leads to a Question, and ends on a note of possible termination. The corporate code might not sound like riveting action, but make no mistake — this is the best issue of Birds of Prey I've seen since its relaunch twelve issues ago. With artist Jesus Saiz arming Gail Simone's heroines with sharp composition and striking expressiveness, there's a huge visual overhaul to this book that absolutely bears watching.

Saiz, in my mind, has some of that inky moodiness that I haven't seen since Eduardo Risso, combined with some of the rock-solid design of someone like Dave Gibbons. He's not a flashy artist by any stretch of the imagination, but who needs flash when you've craftsmanship? Just the opening sequence — a conversation — could have been dull with the wrong artist, but his panel layouts are so clean that nothing ever gets choppy. And the next few pages — the Huntress swooping in to assist the Question with a sewer raid — has a panache to the composition that makes the Birds seem both swashbuckling and seething with power.

And that's par for the course for the rest of this book. Saiz is a real talent, and putting him on this book I think is one of those great cases of the right style on the right characters. There's a page I just turned back to where the Huntress rushes a cadre of crooked cops — there's some speed to this page, a real sense of power as she prepares to cold-cock someone with a crossbow.

But Gail Simone also deserves a ton of credit for this issue, which I think is one of her best bits of writing that I've seen in a while. The introduction, with two jobseekers harboring a dark secret, brings that sort of sinister imagination that she's often concentrated in Secret Six, but Simone counterbalances it with that camaraderie that's made the Birds such a hoot in the first place. For me, it's clearly Huntress and the Question — who immediately get you invested when they refer to each other as "H" and "Q" — that steal the show, although Hawk gets a one-panel gag that is too funny to pass up. The pacing flows well, brings action and stakes, and in a lot of ways, makes the best use of Simone's narrative strengths that I think often end up getting split between her two books. It's a good deal all around.

There are a few hiccups to this book, although more on the level of minor imperfections rather than any sort of dealbreaker. The B-plot, with Dove and Black Canary breaking into a building while Lady Blackhawk acts as a distraction, is missing just a little bit more humor that I think would make it stand out a hair more. And the one thing that gets me — and it's not this book's fault, really, since it's a linewide innovation — is the inconsistency of the character introduction captions. With the Question not getting her own explanation outside of her alter ego, or characters like Hawk going a few pages without their intro panel (and it's on the wrong side of the panel when it comes), it's a minor but annoying flaw that trips up the flow of an otherwise stellar read.

Quibbles aside — and I'll be the first to admit that they are quibbles — I have to say that this issue of Birds of Prey really surprised me with how solid the craftsmanship was all around. This is a book that reads as well as it looks — and that balance is something that's often tough to find in today's marketplace, particularly when they both rock as hard as Simone and Saiz do. Bringing in threads from Secret Six with the feel-good teamwork of the Birds, Birds of Prey #12 was the biggest surprise in my stack this week. This is an offer you can't refuse.

One of the toughest things I have to do in this job is figure out what exactly I want to review, week in and week out. There are always a ton of books that cry out for attention — deservedly so — and this week especially was tough to figure out which book would give me the most to talk about.

There was a lot to choose from. And then there was Dark Wolverine.

Like his daddy before him, it's clear that Daken has what it takes to claw his way to the top of the pack. With a truly, truly gifted art team drawing the conclusion of this crossover with X-23, this collision doesn't necessarily have the neatest of endings, but it is so damn gorgeous that you likely won't mind.

Seriously — rereading my stack for this week, I was taken by just the first page of this book. Marco Checchetto takes something as potentially goofy as Daken versus zombie-like mutates and turns it into an opening page for the ages, with Frank D'Armata's dark colors really sealing the deal as bloody mortal combat. What's most interesting is Checchetto's use of silhouette — there's one moment where Daken, smarting from a grievous wound, pops his claws in anger, and it's a pose every bit as iconic as anything Wolverine's ever done. There's a lot of great use of blood splatter, of expressive color, or nothing but shadows and teeth, that makes this book a true stunner.

Writing-wise, Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu are at the point where they know their art team's strengths, and they keep throwing action sequences in to keep feeding the beast. It's a smart move, made even smarter by how they quickly give you insight into Daken and X-23's relationship — is it a kinship, a begrudging respect? Is it the relationship between siblings, of parents, of mother and son? Your interpretation, whatever it may be, is probably right, but it allows you to understand what puts even Daken off-balance, even as he's still the scheming manipulator we've seen since his inception. And there is a moment that they write into the script — it's a moment of breathtaking masochism, and where it lacks in out-and-out logic it more than makes up for in sheer beauty.

Perhaps it's me being shallow, talking about a book's looks so much. But Daken: Dark Wolverine #9 is one of those books that absolutely sells itself with its art. But if you read close, you'll find some other great moments in here as well, particularly with Way and Liu's denouement for both of the lead characters. It's bloody, it's messy, it's family — but make no mistake, with artists like Checchetto and D'Armata on board, Daken: Dark Wolverine is a book that's a cut above the rest.

G. I. Joe Vol. 2 #1

Written by Chuck Dixon

Art by Javier Saltares, Christopher Ivy and Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

Lettered by Shawn Lee

Published by IDW Publishing

Review by Shanna VanVolt

Since they acquired the property in 2008, IDW has been carving out and serving up portions of the G.I. Joe franchise like it is their business. Because, well, it is. There is certainly a market waiting to ravenously eat up the heaping portions of nostalgia contained therein. As the main, un-subtitled, thread of the IDW G.I. Joe-verse, which currently boasts a Cobra spin-off and an upcoming Ninja Force tangent (featuring Snake Eyes), this book should be the top sirloin of the G.I. Joe cash cow, but G. I. Joe # 1 still feels choppy.

The book shouldn’t be as difficult to read as it is. What could be simpler than having two age old enemies, derived from toys, fight each other? This issue essentially encompasses three aspects: Team Cobra, Team Joe, Fight! like two kids in a basement. And, like my tomboy childhood, it seems that too much attention is given to who gets to play Cobra Commander. Cobra steals the book, leaving the G.I. Joes and the combat sections lagging behind.

Admittedly, killing off the arguably most charismatic element of the G.I. Joe franchise — Cobra Commander — is a bold move. IDW is certainly taking the reader to new places with the "Cobra Civil War," opening up a dearth in bad-guy leadership and a race to fill the gap. Dixon does a good job at displaying some cunning contenders to become the next Commander-In-Terror, while the good-guys come off stiff and underdeveloped in this first issue. That seems to be the status quo with the IDW line. The only Joe the books seem to have fun with is Snake Eyes (whose own spin-off title is coming out later this month), thus distancing him from the Pit and this central storyline. Effectively, the terrorists win in the style category. Cobra agents are depicted as bad-ass evil-doers defeating “Real American Heroes” who read more like expendable green plastic army men than fully pose-able action figures.

While Cobra plays out its high-stakes target practice, the Joes are back in the Pit dilly-dallying with flirtations and monitoring some un-focused fieldwork. Dixon’s off-combat narrations and dialogues are well written, as can be expected from the veteran writer, but not well-paced. Cobra’s first sections move quickly and decisively to action, while Scarlett, Duke, and Mainframe just kind of sit around and chew the fat, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the enemy to strike. I mean, we all know bad guys are cooler, but I would expect a little more concentration from the GI Joe Pit. Also, with the good guys occasional use of the genial term “Bro,” the heroes come off as, well, kind of lame.

With the teams so aligned, we come to the third, most crucial, aspect of the book: engagement. This is where G.I. Joe #1, as an over-arching narrative, should excel. However, with Cobra playing the kill-as-many-Joes-as-you-can game to the G. I. Joes’ bland-o-rama, the battle comes off as two 11-year-olds trying to prove they know wartime radio codes. When the killing starts, I am my kid-tomboy-self again, forever doomed to play the boring good-guys, when the bad guys have all the lingo and position and cool outfits. This is where Dixon’s plot gets off point. Instead of heightening the action with vivid description and dialogue, he spouts some odd technical war-ese that is beyond my comprehension, negotiating placements of soldiers and such that makes it hard to follow. G.I. Joe is supposed to unite the series, but instead, the fighting that could be epic feels like a playground argument.

Javier Saltares rescues the book at that point. Where he falters in off-combat scenes, lacking facial continuity in most of the characters, his pencils excel at pushing action. Yes, the characters are confusing and the locations are not exact (according to the writing), but the layout, with sniper rifle zero-ins and direct-hit close ups, makes you know that something big and important is occurring. In fact, layouts seem to be the biggest strength of this book, all told. Saltares shows a capacity to do great things that isn’t explored in most of the scenes — the characters are fluidly drawn, but not that consistent. But his circle-and-square page compositions (with two great posters mid-issue) really punch out the pace.

In the end, I found G.I. Joe #1 to be better than bad, but not necessarily good. If you are of the cohort that can’t get enough of these characters, by all means, keep buying. This first issue of the second volume has some good seeds (mostly in the Cobra sense). However, Dixon is going to have to deal with the other two-thirds of the book — the Joes themselves, and the combat scenes especially, to really make these uniting issues well-rounded. The issue, in the end, made me want to pick up Cobra and more than the next installment.

Starborn #6

Written by Chris Roberson

Art by Khary Randolph, Matteo Scalera, and Mitch Gerads

Lettering by Ed Dukeshire

Published by BOOM! Studios

Review by Lan Pitts

I never thought I would see the words "Space Hitler" in a comic, yet here we are.

I've been feeling that Starborn has needed a little something plot-wise to really detour what has been almost the same thing in each issue, though I have been praising the pace that Roberson has had. I was more than just surprised as the story takes a slight dark turn here with the ambiguity of the Benjamin's quest. The issue primarily consists of Benjamin fighting off aliens and learning more about the oversuit's abilities, and what the symbol behind what he actually possess.

While Roberson may have hinted something isn't exactly benevolent about Benjamin's suit and gauntlet, Benjamin himself obviously has been fighting the good fight, at least in his mind. It adds another level of characterization to him as to see that even not knowing the full story, he wants to be the good guy. I guess the real challenge here is how the rest of the series will play out, now that Benjamin knows his family history and what his proclaimed destiny is all about.

Roberson sticks to his use of narrative that has been used since the beginning, but it's lessened since and I feel that's a good thing as we finally have a sense of who Benjamin is. Roberson has also set in motion another subplot with, what looks to be, an invasion angle on Earth. Khary Randolph and Matteo Scalera really dive into their full potential here and just all around solid. Randolph's angular style really heightens the fight scenes and goes perfectly with the alien technology. The panel layouts are strong and intense, using different points of perspective. He's really hit his stride. Mitch Gerads is another part of the equation here as he adds great depth to the background that adds so much to the environment. I love the use of warm colors and how he puts a little something extra here and there that makes the alien technology feel real.

Starborn started off reminding me of The Last Starfighter — that is turning out more than what I think anybody thought it would be. Benjamin Warner and company have been a great cast thus far, and as I mentioned I'm curious on where this where lead next. For those who have been thinking it's been lacking action, give this issue a peep.